🐝Preventing Robbing & Summer Bee Losses!

[@kamonreynolds]

Robbing looks like a busy colony except there will be fighting at the entrance, bees not only trying to get into the entrance but trying to fit thru every crevice and crack in the equipment. Once started robbing is difficult to stop. I like HUGE colonies like the ones in the video to have 6 or so inches of ventilation on solid bottom boards and weaker colonies to have as little as an inch. Colonies that have small entrances still need to be able to cool themselves so a screened upper entrance, shade, insulation and other methods should be employed to help the hive regulate the cluster temp. SHB need to be watched in summer where they can devastate little weak colonies and reproduce thousands of larvae that will become adult beetles in a matter of weeks. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! Beetle blasters with Diatomaceous earth or mineral oil can catch beetles fairly well. Especially if you throw a tiny bit of pollen patty in there.

[@viscache1]

Clearly it’s time for you to start the twice daily yootoob videos….

[@Moderatelydisagreeable]

Lol@ “so that bee can come back and sting you again”. That’s what I was thinking as soon as you freed her. I’ve had 1 sting a glove and she got free and came right back into my face.

[@ricardodominguez3785]

Kamon , I have a question, what kind of varroa mite treatment you use in heat of the summer?. Thank you for the video, is a lot of good info.

[@caven930]

Second year beekeeping for me. Me and my wife have made a few mistakes and lost a colony at the beginning of the season because it swarmed out and we weren't prepared. We got the initial swarm and they were doing great until something happened to the queen and I had to replace her. Thankfully I caught it fast but they're just now starting to rebound. The main brood chamber has been stalled out at 7 built out frames for a month and a half now. We've been feeding but they haven't been taking it until yesterday when they gobbled down 2 quarts in a day. There are definitely more bees as I said they are rebounding but it's late now. This is our only colony and I don't wanna lose another. With that said I appreciate the content you've put out every year. Our climate is pretty much the same as yours I believe. I'm in Blackstock, SC. So your regular updates are very helpful to helping me determine what I need to be doing. Thank you.

[@Mz.Stephanie]

Thank you ! I really enjoy your videos.

[@trichard5106]

Thanks !!

[@todddotson4383]

Kanin, If you were taking fall honey, when would you put supers back on? Thanks

[@jah2440]

Great informative video, Kamon. Thank you for sharing! very grateful

[@dannyg8741]

Great content! Man, you are the bee whisperer, Lol! I can't ever work around my bees without getting taken out! I some others do it too and I'm jealous!

[@catchemalive]

Kamon, are you looking for how much pollen they have stored for summer also for larvae reading or only concerned about honey stores? When you talk about whether or not you need to feed them, I wasn’t sure if you meant only sugar syrup or also pollen patties thru the dearth. Thanks so much for all your help!! We just completed our honey harvest today and because of your videos alone; we have harvested our best yield to date!!

[@TennesseeTim38451]

Another great video Kamon!!! I really do appreciate you sharing your knowledge of the trade of beekeeping.

[@michaelladue5655]

Thank you.

[@thesidelinebeekeeper-craig6924]

Happy Fathers Day Kamon!

[@jeffahrens6246]

Happy Fathers Day. Thanks for putting out a video on your day off! What is the best way to draw comb out on a honey super Frame?

[@G.W.H.]

Thanks for sharing!!!

[@richardnoel3141]

Kamon, love the robbing screen!! Looks great. Do any of you guys use your dearth to give a forced brood break! Your working with the bees and the queens don’t get grief because the dearth gives a clear message to the colony. Your dearth comes even earlier than ours. To Me it’s perfect. Your queens are released after 21/24 days in plenty of time for your golden rod flow. Interested in your thoughts??🐝🐝🐝👍🙌

[@Mrsdonimarie]

Thank you Kamon & Laurel! What type of foundation are you using?

[@kamonreynolds]

Hi Doni I buy Premier foundation these days. It does the job much better than the Mann lake foundation I was using

[@BuildingATitan]

I'm very lucky. This is my first year and my bees have been foraging from sun up to sundown since May and unless it gets dry I imagine it will continue right through the goldenrod bloom.

[@jonohooper4555]

I’m from Canterbury, New Zealand, and I must say, what you said in your intro about late summer being the hardest, or least pleasant time of year rings true. The bees are in a horrible mode, so many foragers and nothing to do. There’s a period of about 6 weeks, where typically I only open up hives in thr last two hours of bee flight, so that if any robbing starts, they soon have to pack away for the night. Right now, it’s 6°C and raining. Looking forward to the warmer weather 😊

[@robertshorthill6836]

Jono Hooper. I lived in a county in NW MT where we had a few nectar sources like dandelion and fruit trees, but once the noxious weed called spotted knapweed came to bloom, and with a decent amount of rain all during the bloom ( late June, through July into middle to late August) a good flow could be collected by strong colonies. There would be many seasons when the moisure just didn't arrive to do much nectar gathering. A good cloud burst would do a lot of good and the work force would be back to it for several days. If the temps got to around 94 or 95 degrees F for 3 or 4 days, things would dry up again. Every year was different and with 12 hives to manage, it was sometimes a harrowing experience. Robbing was always a danger if boxes were not in good repair, and my honey processing methods became careless. Cheers, mate. Bob

[@TheJosuetico]

Hi: I'm a second year hobby bee keeper. First year all my bees die during the Winter. This year with a new package I divided my colony into two during early Spring, and catch a swarm. Now I'm managing three hives. During the last four weeks my stronger hive is the one getting rob. That hive is in a single deep with one supper as the other ones. The only thing different is it has a screen bottom board and the other ones do not. I just close the bottom screen just in case that is the problem, add a second supper since the first one is full of bees and half full with honey. Every time I see rubbing (three times) immediately I reduce the entrance to about one inch, and in occasion if it persist I close it for couple hours and appear to work. I'm doing alcohol wash to check for VM, and tested 0 on two hives. I treated last month with MAQS for seven days. No signs of VM or viruses for now. Will ensure to follow up with testing every two months, and treat if necessary. I continue to feed Sugar-water as need it. Is there anything else I can do to prevent robbing? Thanks.

[@carolinacarnio5381]

Great video,as usual guys! thank you so much. We had la Nina rainy season(with a devastating flood)in NSW, Australia,and now our bees are in lock down. I've been watching your videos so I could be ready for the varroa and now here she is. Not the best time to get this mite after all this rain but it's still cold so we can do something. I'm Italian and knew this mite but here everybody is scared and I'm worried too although beekeepers are thought!! thank you for your extremely educational video again guys!!!

[@stephendawes7016]

Here in Newcastle, Aus, hoping to be able to be smart enough to isolate and remove varroa. New infestation sites popping up around here. Lucky it's winter and the hives are small and not flying much. Might be the last time we get to remain mite free country before having to join the rest of the bee keeping world in dealing with them.... and continue dealing with hive beetles.

[@beeware_honey]

I have a horizontal hive like the one you got from Rickey. My bees are currently queenless. They tried unsuccessfully to replace the queen, so I bought one and decided to try a split. So, I have 2 colonies in the same box, using a separator board. Haven’t seen signs of robbing yet that I know of. It’s still pretty new to me. Love your videos. Especially when you are in the horizontal.

[@framcesmoore]

Ha Kamon good video, great information, when do u feed pollen patties I am in Virginia. Just removed the honey this past weekend and put formic pro for mites in the hives. going to start feeding next week to draw comb and to incourage them to keep building up. Thanks

[@KajunHomestead]

HERE IN LOUISIANA WE STILL GOT A SMALL FLOW BUT I HAVE NOTICE A FEW BEES STARTING TO HANG AROUND THE JAR FEEDERS OF MY NUCS SO IT WONT BE LONG.

[@benjamindejonge3624]

We in the south have completely different beekeeping, including you are still green but we are semi desserts in the summer

[@beebob1279]

Are you in the sourwood area? Is that getting ready to bloom? It’s important to know the flows of your area. We’re coming to the end. Our clover are beginning to brown a bit. Our sumac is a small presence. When I see the mimosa I know it’s over. Time to extract. Glad you spent so much time discussing robbing, nutrition, and mite control. Thank you

[@kamonreynolds]

We never get a sourwood flow here Bee Bob! Very few trees and i think wrong elevation. Sounds like our flows are similar! Time to pull that honey!

[@stgermain1074]

Kamon, have you made a video about pulling your honey supers? What method do you use to get the bees off the supers before you pull them? Do you use a fume board, or escapes, or some other method?

[@heatherparkinson1605]

He does have a video about that. It was really helpful 👍

[@gwtill]

Looks like a new smoker. What kind did you get?

[@billchriswell2925]

Good stuff again…we’re fortunate up here in the NE…there is no dearth… but we do have real winters😂

[@joetripp123]

Great video Kamon. Is there a reason there were two small holes in the front of that robbing screen? Look like bee sized holes. Edit for others: timestamp for holes I'm referencing is 6:46.

[@kamonreynolds]

Ooops! That was damage that had happened to the screen in storage. Take it easy Tripplett!

[@piedolo]

Man your climate and honey flows are so similar to ours (northern east of Italy). Keep up with the good work.

[@kamonreynolds]

Thanks so much for the comment! That is fascinating! One day I hope to travel to Italy and see some of the hives and honey there!

[@GEEZBEEZ]

Very good video. Lots of information. Appreciate it. Thanks

[@kamonreynolds]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching Geez Beez🐝

[@davidsoloninka7742]

Do you open feed during the dirty? Thx, DS

[@ericgunter45]

Was just out watching my brother work through his yard of 14 hives and by the time he got to the next to last hive we were starting to see some robbing start. Have 2-3 that are light on food and need fed but going to wait a day or 2 and sneak syrup in as fast as possible.

[@ajs4287]

I have been feeding my weakest colony, a swarm catch, at night to keep them from getting destroyed by my big colonies. I've been removing honey supers and they have not been happy with me.

[@kathyhathaway8823]

Thanks kamon a lot of great information. For any of them that are lite in brood would feeding pollen patties help out much at this time of year ??. Thanks for all your information as always.

[@kamonreynolds]

It does help it is just difficult to feed large quantities with small hive beetles. Just feed thoughtful proportions and yes the colony will benefit.

[@RodHermann]

2:17 agreed!

[@baldeagleApiaries]

Help, I completed a walkaway spit 5 weeks ago. look back in on the brood chambers and both hives appeared to not be queen right. so I went and picked up 2 queens, installed them and went back into the brood boxes today. Well my main hive appear to have brood below and above the queen excluder. I'm thinking I may need to do another split assuming that I have 2 queens. What are your thoughts? thanks for all you provide us Newbees. 🙂 could I have a skinny queen? LoL

[@DC_PRL]

you can save a bee so she can sting you again haha. I'm in NJ....we're still getting some good clover flow, probably japanese not weed after that.

[@todwhitaker1293]

Hi Kamon and Laurel, Thanks to your teachings My retirement hobby has started to feel more like work. 😂 This year I started grafting my own queens and selling off Nucs and larger colonies to reduce my workload. Nice problem to have thank you. 😁 So was wondering… after you pull the honey do you test for mites then conclude to have them draw more comb or go straight into feeding and comb drawing and add mite control during or after??? BTW I refer all my newbee customers to your channel.

[@kamonreynolds]

Thanks for watching and for recommending our videos! Sorry about the work haha. Tod I go right into feeding and comb drawing once supers are pulled. If I wait a month I won't be able to draw comb well due to the natural population decline. Once colonies are fed up and all we start hammering mites and monitor throughout late summer.

[@todwhitaker1293]

Okay great… last question. So after they are fed well do you then stop feeding while doing the mite control or continue feeding and adding frames for them to draw out at the same time?

[@henryparrott2447]

👍

[@dakotad5485]

How do you treat for varroa when the temps are 90 plus. Our 90 day forecast is hot and dry .

[@kenny00869]

2nd year beekeeper. Unfortunately, your video was a week late for me. I had a weak hive I was trying to requeen. My son noticed quite a bit activity around that hive. By the time I got there, we found a pile of dead defenders under the entrance. Inspection showed no queen. I had to leave for several days, so I put an entrance reducer in. I went in again today to verify, and it looks like only robbers. I took that hive down today. Great tips, though. With this hot weather, I was hesitant to put an entrance reducer in place on my remaining colonies. I have 2 that are still weak (swarms I caught), so I’ll reduce and watch closely.

[@martinbee772]

Congratulations on catching 2 swarms. I have never found the magic formula to catch them yet in the swarm boxes I’ve built. Got excited yesterday when a neighbor called about a “beehive” in his generator shed. But, like a lot of folks, he thinks every fuzzy buzzing thing that flies is a honeybee. (What he had was a bumble bee nest in his insulation...)

[@kenreed4097]

@@martinbee772 I wish I could say I was good at catching swarms. I started with 2 colonies last year, and split them both over the summer. They all survived winter. I spilt one massive colony this spring , but 2 others swarmed anyway. They were my own colonies swarming, so it's more of a failure to prevent.

[@stevenallen2530]

Kamon, I'm in central NC, During this period are you feeding 1:1 Or 2:1? What else should I feed them. I have tried Pollen paddies but that seems to draw in lots of hive beetles. You mentioned only feeding them small quantities of Pollen paddies. I have 7 hives, 5of them were cought swarms this spring. one of them was a large swarm and now has two 10 frame boxes the other 4 are one box and they are working on filling out comb. I have been feeding 1:1 in a 3 gallon open air feeding station but they suck down 3 gallons a day which is not cheep. HELP!!

[@vincekeenan5919]

Kamon, I was inspecting my hives yesterday. On one of my hives I noticed an inch worm looking thing scooting across the outer frame. Was that a wax moth larva? The bees chased it down in a cell and went in after it. How do I made sure there is not a wax moth infestation?

[@texasfriendlybeekeepers8210]

awesome video!!!!

[@blossomhill2117]

How are you feeding to pull frames without robbing?

[@jethrothepilot]

Kamon, I’m in middle Georgia. My hives have plenty of nectar (almost too much) my queens have slowed laying. Is this ok? They are not drawing comb out anymore. Do I need to open feed pollen to keep them raising brood?

[@kamonreynolds]

You don't have to. It is nature for bees to slow down in summer but the queen should still be doing a good job just not laying as hard. If you want to open feed the bees will tell you if they want to use it or not. The main thing I would watch out for is those darn mites and the food store going into fall. Keep me posted Jethro and take care!

[@jethrothepilot]

@@kamonreynolds thanks Kamon. I will keep you updated. I put out a 5 gallon bucket open feeder of lite syrup and they are tearing it up.

[@Springhillshoney]

What mite treatment for summer?

[@geraldharper5281]

My 5 colonies were getting robbed Friday I had to close the gates to get it stopped the robbers finally left killing a colony with a new queen, making robbing screens now

[@mikesayre2418]

Kamon just took 140lbs honey off most of my hives left a lot of honey still on the boxes hoping for a fall flow. So I didn't want to feed them foe that reason. So with you feeding yours if there is a good fall flow how are you gonna be able to tell what is honey and what is sugar water?? Or do you just not take honey from the I es you feed now

[@kamonreynolds]

We don't take fall honey so no big deal! Fall flow is not very reliable and if we get a good one we still don't care to pull the honey. Summer and fall is all about mite crushing, requeening, feeding if needed. Definitely our method is not for everyone.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Can we treat with formic acid in the heat? Or what's your favorite mite treatment in summer that's safe with honey boxes on? Southwestern KY.

[@framcesmoore]

50-85 it is very hard on the bees could and will kill them follow the directions, it is a must. I just used formic pro in my hives it works great

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

@@framcesmoore thank you. I'll wait until fall like I did last season. No signs of mites but I haven't done a wash this season yet. I was wondering though what to use if I did need to treat in the heat? Sounds like I'd have to take supers off to use something other than formic? I need to research more.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

This spring each colony swarmed and experienced a broodless period, and that has been part of my mite strategy. I guess I could cage the queen for a time in the heat to do the same if needed?

[@viscache1]

Yep Kamon! I just noticed bees running into the side wall of my house. Just started today. I set up a hive about 2 feet from their house entrance for them to go into, put a small bee patty in and a few drops of the sugar water scent to lure them.… the hive is full of old comb…do you have any suggestions how to entice them in there? Using your calculations I could have 1,000,000,000% veroa mites within 2.6 years! I better check!

[@farmer998]

look up how to trap honey bees out of a house on you tube

[@paulbunyan1682]

What mite treatment do you use in the summer?

[@kamonreynolds]

Apigaurd

[@paulbunyan1682]

@@kamonreynolds thank you.

[@LSUTigerMom]

How do you know when a dearth starts???

[@Inrussian]

What is ur opinion on VIVO 4 frame electric extractor? Are you familiar with a vevor 4 frame extractor? I can’t find any reviews on the internet or on KZbin for it:( they are having a sale on it now. I want to see what the basket looks like and how it extracts honey, but can’t find anything on it. What kind of an extractor do u use?

[@jerrydegroot1573]

do bees rob less when fed pro-sweet instead of syrup made from sugar?

[@kamonreynolds]

They love robbing pro sweet if it is diluted too. They won't rob it as ready when it is still full strength thick. Thinner syrup is more attractive.

[@time2fly2124]

i'm sure you've mentioned it before but after feeding them to draw out comb, i'm assuming you spin them out? what do you do with the honey/syrup you get, store and feed back for winter?

[@kamonreynolds]

They will consume a good deal between now and winter. Any that have access we can give to light colonies and splits. Plugging in a frame of food works great. If we wanted we could soon then out and use it to feed back later or make pollen patties

[@mikeshelton9051]

Too bad you don't have those gentle bees! LOL

[@kamonreynolds]

I know right!

[@ericshipplett3517]

Can you recommend a veil?

[@macsbees5775]

I’m pretty sure I’m the first person to like this one kamon, so when will I expect the apimaye to arrive??? I did win one right?!!! I love these videos the live chat was good and your advice on the split I made was good, just old bee’s capping honey at this stage and when it’s capped I’ll just take it. I’m not gonna risk adding them to a stronger hive or a weaker one after they killed the queen I gave them. Happy Father’s Day and laurel I hope you emptied the pockets to take him out?!

[@3Beehivesto300]

Will you leave the hives 3 deep all summer?

[@susanolson3611]

😃

[@glennbarnett8855]

Hi Kamon, do you ever pull your deeps with the newly drawn out comb from feeding and extract the feed from them and then refeed the syrup to the bees to draw out even more foundation. Have often wondered if you could refeed the syrup and get more combs drawn out. What are your thoughts? Thanks and I really enjoy your videos.

[@kamonreynolds]

You could as long as the colony is large and in expansion mode. In a dearth of pollen they shrink the brood nest making them very reluctant to draw comb. This is why we have to do it during the honey flow or within a month after. By mid July August the colonies have little desire here to draw combs

[@glennbarnett8855]

@@kamonreynolds Thank you

[@elaineburke2005]

Kamon: If a flower is poisonous for humans to eat, would the honey from bees working those flowers be poisonous also? Trying to decide if I should get rid of a flowering plant.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

There are a lot of poisonous flowers (to humans) that bees use for nectar. Poison ivy has a decent flow. You can eat the honey :)

[@skyhighactiondrones5453]

Great video, what’s ur smoker fuel?

[@scottfortune9016]

Bee sting therapy huh? I can do without that! Lol

[@motormaker]

Some people claim the stings help with arthritis.

[@williamthomas1977]

Kamon, Do you recommend using oxalic acid treatment with temperatures in the 90s? here in the south.. thanks

[@kamonreynolds]

You can, it just doesn't kill a ton when there is lots of brood so you will need to use it regular to reduce mite loads. Don't close the entrances up for very long on very hot days too or the bees will overheat! So yes, just watch the temps!

[@williamthomas1977]

@@kamonreynolds do you recommend another treatment instead?or just do multiple treatments? Maybe I can do them later in the day when starts cooling backdown

[@kamonreynolds]

@@williamthomas1977 to really crush the mites I would do 7 rounds in a 14 day window. Sounds excess but if there is a lot of brood it will take that. The more research that is done on OA the more we find it only kills what it contacts at the time of treatment and it doesn't deliver a 90% kill either. It is clean for the colony though.

[@williamthomas1977]

@@kamonreynolds but supers need to be off?

[@loydanderson270]

So will you do oa treatment in the summer dirth

[@kamonreynolds]

I will do some apiguard!

[@irishcoffee6894]

Hi Kamon, what do you do with bees that follow you everywhere after you have been gone thru the hive, really aggressively ? They had way enough honey and were strong enough but they still were flying around looking for us. As soon as we were out we had several around our head and stinging. Can you advise please.

[@pavelzapletal9207]

"mite count doubles in 21 days" That's not accurate enough. It takes 10 days for Varroa destructor to fully develop. 1 female mite attacks a larva just before pupation and in 10 days, when the young bee hatches, with it go 1 original female, 1 male (from an unfertilized egg, just like in bees) and 3-4 young already fertilized females (the male has already managed to fertilize his sisters (although his sperm is not fully developed and so he also passes on some of his tissue to the females and the sperm matures only in the body of the females)). These females can immediately attack the next larva and in another 10 days we have 1 grandmother female, plus 3-4 mother females and plus 12-15 new already fertilized females. That's a total of 16 - 20 Varroa destroctor females in 20 days, from a ONE female (if conditions are ideal) - and that's not double what you said but many multiples. "Let it fly!"

[@Typhus-th6ud]

Im a first year beekeeper got.5 frame nuc last day of april. My bees have completely filled their 10 framw deep and my medium super is completely full of honey. Im just starting out i have no respurces no spare drawn frames or anything. What should i do now? I was thinking of adding a second deep fro a brood box because my queen is laying all 10 frames from end to end even the outside of the far end frames. I thought i may have had 2 queens for a bit because she was laying so much. Should i just give them another medium super or add a deep brood. I was thinking about adding a medium super below the excluder and just seeing what they do. If they draw comb and the queen starts to lay then they can have it.

[@citrumpet1]

Very good video. As always great advice. Thanks.

[@kamonreynolds]

Glad you enjoyed it